Conclusion: Contending with Challenge, Coping with Change

• Author: Ivelaw L. Griffith
• Pages: 508-533

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Caribbean Security in the Age of Terror

Conclusion:

Contending with Challenge,

Coping with Change

Ivelaw L. Griffith

It is essential to know the character of the enemy and of their principal

officers—whether they be rash or cautious, enterprising or timid, whether

they fight on principle or from chance.

Vegetius1

The world has certainly become a different, more dangerous place and we

are required to adapt almost daily to changing circumstances and emerging

threats. We have also come to accept the reality of our interconnectedness.

Kenny Anthony2

Introduction

Vegetius and Anthony capture many of the dynamics of challenge and

change that define the security scenario of the contemporary Caribbean. Of

course, challenge and change are not new for the region. Indeed, they have

been constants of the Caribbean experience ever since the fifteenth century,

when Christopher Columbus encountered the region with his history-making

geographical blunder. As one would expect, challenge and change matrixes

have had differing elements since the arrival of Columbus, with new and

often dangerous dimensions in the twentieth century and in this new century,

precipitated or accentuated by dynamics of the security, political, and

economic environments.

It is reasonable to assume from the chapters in this volume that the

context of the security landscape of the contemporary Caribbean is markedly

different from that about which Vegetius would have written. Nevertheless,

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Conclusion

the challenge to which he refers – to know well the enemy’s leadership and

modus operandi – still exists. The suggestion by Vegetius is a logical extension

of that offered in the Introduction to this volume by Carl von Clausewitz:

that statesmen and generals must exercise sound judgment about the kind of

conflict in which they are engaged. Yet, the need for familiarity about which

Vegetius wrote is predicated on much more than simply the desire to know

the opponents. It is driven by necessity – for a strategy for engagement and

victory that is built on more than anecdote, intuition, and luck. This need for

familiarity becomes even more crucial in circumstances of complexity and

interdependence, and with new and emerging threats. Such is the situation

with the Caribbean, which Prime Minister Kenny Anthony captures, and

which this volume has outlined.

Different chapters in this volume have addressed modes, methods, policies,

and practices attempted and underway for coping with the region’s challenges.

As several authors have shown, some of these have been more successful

than others. Some have been undermined by the absence of the two key

elements that Clausewitz, Vegetius, and Kenny Anthony postulate. First, there

should be more than cursory appreciation of the nature of the conflicts being

waged and the character of the opposing actors. Second, there needs to be a

willingness and ability by security policy makers and practitioners to be

sufficiently adaptable.

Adaptation – of modes, methods, policies, and practices – becomes not

just a desire; it is a necessity, amounting to a challenge of change. Thus, in

pondering ways in which Caribbean states cope with the security challenges

facing them and with adaptation as a challenge of change, it is essential to

go beyond the largely issue-focused considerations of earlier chapters and

pursue the over-arching question raised but not examined in Chapter One:

What are some relevant strategies to cope with the challenges confronting

states in the region? Dealing with this question requires revisiting the

framework developed in Chapter 1 in order to address relevant components

– pertaining to actors, response instruments, and engagement zones – that

were not elaborated there. Needless to say, this analysis is by no means

exhaustive or definitive.

The Framework Revisited

It is important to recall the key features of the Discrete Multidimensional

Security Framework outlined in Chapter 1 before proceeding to discuss the

issue of strategy. Use of the term Discrete reflects awareness of the need to